Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Sarah Palin Hits One Out Of The Park

Sarah penned an article for the Wall Street Journal last week (yes, I’m behind on my reading, but I’m catching up. It discusses the reports on the Presidential Commission on Fiscal Responsibility.

The publication of the findings of the president's National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform was indeed, as the report was titled, "A Moment of Truth." The report shows we're much closer to the budgetary breaking point than previously assumed. The Medicare Trust Fund will be insolvent by 2017. As early as 2025, federal revenue will barely be enough to pay for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and interest on our national debt. With spending structurally outpacing revenue, something clearly needs to be done to avert national bankruptcy.

Of course, the commission, working under a Democratic administration, could not figure out what to do about this problem. It mentioned making cuts in defense, but neglected to even discuss costly new entitlement programs (e.g. ObamaCare) favored by the administration. In fact, its recommendations would lead to an expansion of ObamaCare, not a cut back (how that’s supposed to save money is a question left unanswered).

Palin brings up the plan presented by Paul Ryan (R-WI-01) last year which he calls the Roadmap for America’s Future. There are a few things in the Roadmap that I’m not in favor of, but on the whole, it’s something I can support. As Palin says:

On health care, it would replace ObamaCare with a new system in which people are given greater control over their own health-care spending. It achieves this partly through creating medical savings accounts and a new health-care tax credit—the only tax credit that would be left in a radically simplified new income tax system that people can opt into if they wish.

The Roadmap would also replace our high and anticompetitive corporate income tax with a business consumption tax of just 8.5%. The overall tax burden would be limited to 19% of GDP (compared to 21% under the deficit commission's proposals).

Obviously I’m happy about the removal of the corporate income tax. And I’ve said many times that I believe that some sort of consumption tax is not only inevitable, but necessary, for this country to succeed in the 21st century.

What does the CBO say about the Roadmap? Emphasis mine.

According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the Roadmap would lead to lower deficits and a much lower federal debt. The CBO estimates that under current spending plans, our federal debt would rise to 87% of GDP by 2020, to 223% by 2040, and to 433% by 2060. Under Rep. Ryan's Roadmap, the CBO estimates that debt would rise much more slowly, peaking at 99% in 2040 and then dropping back to 77% by 2060.

Put simply: Our country is on the path toward bankruptcy. We must turn around before it's too late, and the Roadmap offers a clear plan for doing so. But it does more than just fend off disaster. CBO calculations show that the Roadmap would also help create a "much more favorable macroeconomic outlook" for the next half-century. The CBO estimates that under the Roadmap, by 2058 per-person GDP would be around 70% higher than the current trend.

And Mrs. Palin summarizes it perfectly.

Let's not settle for the big-government status quo, which is what the president's commission offers. We owe it to our children and grandchildren to make these tough decisions so that they might inherit a prosperous and strong America like the one we were given.

Sorry for quoting so much this time. It’s just that I agreed so closely with what she said. I also apologize for once again posting Palin’s words on this topic rather than Romney’s or Huckabee’s or one of the other 2012 Republican contenders.

When they write something meaningful, I’ll quote them. Until then, you and I are still waiting.